Heart buried treasures

Chapter Three:Introduction and Revelation

"The guests will be here in ten minutes." Imran Abdul muiz said, to which he got no response.

Hanan was with her mom in the kitchen, preparing for the 'so called guests', her mind elsewhere. She felt lifeless, her eyes bloodshot red and dark circles under her eyes, her hair was loosely tied in a ponytail with some strands coming out. Her lips were swollen from biting them too hard. She had cried all night, and now there were no tears left to be shed. Or so she thought.

"Did you even hear me?" her dad shouted and she flinched before opening her eyes.

"Pardon?" she asked, getting herself together. Imran rolled his eyes. Patience man! Patience! She heard him mutter under his breath.

"In ten minutes, they will be here and you're not even prepared, are you okay?"
Now, it was her turn to roll her eyes. Her father didn't come back home the previous night, he only came back this morning.

Hanan and her mom were the ones nursing wounds. 'I don't want your future in laws to see you this way', her mom had said while nursing her wounds. It was a brutal one, one that wouldn't heal anytime soon.

She sighed and excused herself as another tear was about to fall. Hanan went to her room to prepare for the so unwelcome guests...

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In exactly ten minutes, she heard noises and shuffles and Hanan knew it was the guests. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror she stared hard at her 5ft tall figure and her beautiful pale skin, which was covered with different ugly scars and marks on every part, which she conceals well with her long sleeved over flowing dresses. Her long straight black hair flowed down to her waist, it looked unkempt yet beautiful. Her well structured pointed nose complimented her high cheekbones which was red from the impact of the slap. Her ocean blue eyes, which is her favourite part of her body shined brightly through her sad pretty face.

She looked elegant in the full sleeve turquoise blue gown with silver design embroidered on it. It was the one she wore on the day she graduated from college. She stopped to look at herself for a moment and sighed, wondering if she wanted to continue with this arrangement. She picked a matching color scarf and fixed it on her head, she wore a nice flat shoe to compliment her dressing.

'You have to look your best', she remembered what her idiotic Dad said to her earlier. Hanan stared back at her reflection in the mirror, she wasn't sure if she looked beautiful or not. She decided to line her eyes, applied a little mascara and lipgloss. She couldn't remember the last time she wore make up, heck, not even a lip gloss. After being slightly satisfied with her reflection, she made to leave the room, only to see her mother standing by the door frame.

"You look really pretty my darling." Her mom complimented, pulling her in for a hug and kissed her cheeks. "My little girl is now so grown." she said after awhile.

Her mother is the only one that calls her pretty. Through out her school days, she was constantly insulted and ignored for being the naive, ugly and religious nerd. She had a friend then, Neemah, who stood and fought for her whenever she was being bullied. It was sad that she had to leave the school before graduation because her family was relocating. They've lost contact since then and Hanan could only hope she is okay, she was her only friend.

Her schoolmates were always pointing out her scars and bruises which resulted to her always wearing concealing clothes to hide her scars, all thanks to her abusive father! She shut her eyes tightly trying to block out those horrid memories. If not for her mom, she didn't know....

"Don't think too much dear." Balqees said, cutting short her thought then she kissed her forehead. "Come on, the guests are here, let's go out to meet them." She said and that was when Hanan took in her appearance. She was already dressed in a lovely black Abaya, designed all over with gold beads and stones.